Traill County Extension

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SAVE THE DATE: Café Talks are BACK!

Meet with NDSU Research and Extension to talk about on-farm soil health issues. Traill County Café Talks will take place at the Hillsboro Café on January 17th and February 7th from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. All are welcome to attend!

The goal of these sessions is to get Soil Health information shared between producers and NDSU. We want to know what issues you’re facing (for example, salinity, sodicity, compaction) and work with you to identify solutions that make sense for your “bottom line”.

Using a laid back setting and small groups, NDSU Soil Health, Research/Extension Faculty and Alyssa Scheve, Traill County Extension Agent, will be available to answer your questions. These meetings are entirely driven by producers!

For more information regarding Café Talks, contact the Traill County Extension office at (701)636-5665 or email alyssa.scheve@ndsu.edu.

Private Pesticide Applicator Training

Private pesticide applicators whose certification expires in April will need to be sure register by January 24 for the January 31 training. The training begins at 1:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the Traill County Courthouse Community Room. Testing will follow the training for intial certifications.

The January 31 training is the last training available in Traill County this year.

For more information regarding these upcoming programs, contact the Traill County Extension office at (701)636-5665 or email alyssa.scheve@ndsu.edu.

NDSU Offers Updated Crop Compare Program for 2019

North Dakota State University Extension has updated the Crop Compare program, which is a spreadsheet designed to compare cropping alternatives.

The program provides a tool for producers to check the changing scenarios until final planting decisions are made in the spring of 2019.

It uses the direct costs and yields from the 2019 projected crop budgets for nine regions of North Dakota, but producers are encouraged to enter the expected yields and input costs for their farm.

The user designates a reference crop and enters its expected market price. Depending on the region, a broad selection of nine to 18 crops are compared. The program provides the prices for competing crops that would be necessary to provide the same return over variable costs as the reference crop.

Producers should note that an underlying assumption is that fixed costs, such as machinery ownership, land, and the owner’s labor and management, do not vary among crop choices and therefore do not need to be included in the analysis.

Winter Survival Kit – A Phone App Away

With holiday travel happening, now is the time to download the Winter Survival Kit smartphone app in addition to gathering a winter survival kit for your vehicles. The app is for people who live in areas where they might get stuck in the snow or slide off the road, and people traveling to wintery areas.

The free Winter Survival Kit app is available for iPhones and Android smartphones. It’s provided by North Dakota State University Extension.

This app will help users find their current location, call 911, notify friends and family, and estimate how long they can run a vehicle’s engine to keep warm before running out of fuel.

The app also alerts the user every 30 minutes as a reminder to turn off the vehicle’s engine and check the exhaust pipe for snow buildup, which is critical to avoiding potentially deadly carbon monoxide poisoning. Additionally, it provides information on putting together a physical winter survival kit, preparing a vehicle for winter driving and staying safe when stranded in an ice storm or stuck in snow.

The Winter Survival Kit app was developed by Myriad Devices, a company that was founded by students and faculty in NDSU’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and College of Business in the NDSU Research and Technology Park incubator. NDSU Extension provided design and content input, and funded the project with a U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Smith-Lever Special Needs grant.

Check Your Sewer Vents

With the cold weather and snow beginning to pile up, we should remember to be aware of sewer vent blockages, which may cause you to become sick with symptoms such as headache, nausea, dizziness or drowsiness and, in some situations, can be explosive.

If you have noticed a 'rotten egg' odor (hydrogen sulfide) or have symptoms such as described, you may have been exposed to an odorless gas such as methane or carbon monoxide. People experiencing such symptoms should seek immediate medical care.

House plumbing systems include waste pipes, vent pipes and water traps. Waste and vent pipes usually are the same pipe, with wastewater flowing downward and gases rising in the pipe. This 3- or 4-inch vertical pipe acts as a vent for gases that collect in the septic tank or sewer system. In cold weather, the gases exiting from the stack contain water vapor that will form a frost layer that can get thick enough to close off the end of the stack.

Excessive snow on the roof also can block the vent stack. If the vent stack is closed off, proper draining is hampered and water will siphon from the water traps in the drain line between each fixture and the main stack. Your first indication of trouble may be the toilet gurgling or not flushing properly as water is pulled from the traps to replace existing water/air flow.

Another option is having a heating professional install a copper T down the sewer vent. The copper holds the heat from the steam rising through the vent. The warmed copper melts any frost that accumulates and prevents the vent from freezing closed.

Plumbers recommend that heat tape be used only under mobile homes. Heat tape should not be used in other applications, such as on sewer vents in the attic, because it can create a fire hazard. Keep safe by remembering that ladders and icy roofs are treacherous.